Microbiology, Genetics or Cell Bio: Which one gave you the most trouble?

[iqe2010]

Hi guys, it's been about 1.5 years since I took a biology class, and that was Gen Bio which I did okay in (B). I need all three of these classes for my minor, and I was just wondering if I should take any of these with my current schedule. I've already registered for Orgo w/o lab & Physics w/lab and was wondering if it would be dumb of me to add one of those three.

From what I've read on here and on rate my professor, Cell Bio and Genetics are memorization classes, which I'm pretty sure is the reality with most biology classes. I remember all the memorizing I had to do in gen bio, I'm sure upper-level bios are even crazier.

I've recently transferred schools, but a senior at my old school told me that most people put off taking the genetics lab for as long as possible because it's very difficult and require you to check back on your lab throughout the entire week. I'm not sure if that's the case at my current school, however.

So, should I just wait to take one of these or is it manageable with organic & physics?

(Also, I'm only taking the first part of Orgo & Physics so after next semester those slots could go to two more science classes, if need be.)

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[Pacna]

Cell bio was the hardest for me, but I managed to ace that and get a B in genetics (because I wasn't taking it seriously enough). Micro was a joke.

 

[CollegeGirl94]

Cell Bio for sure.

We don't have a Micro class here.

 

[mrh125]

Genetics, ugh. That class had way too much (arguably unnecessary) memorization. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against necessary memorization, but memorizing a ton of transcription and other factors with very similar hard to remember names that were probably outdated info by the time we memorized them was not a walk in the park and really killed the subject for me. General concepts and big pictures also don't help you go far in that class. If you hit it really hard and take the time and have very detailed and organized mind you're good, but it's also insanely easy to mix everything up because of how similar some of the material you learn is to previous material. I didn't really put everything together until before the mcat and found myself asking "wow, was it really that simple" because the mcat is all about mental acrobatics. If you can sit down and easily remember the difference between centrioles, centromeres, centrosomes, IF1, IF2, IF3, and a bunch of other similar things you've won genetics and will have no issues.

Cell bio wouldn't have been that bad if my professor didn't have a really thick accent and use crappy exams with impossible to decipher low quality pictures. 30% was a B in that class, but I think if we had a decent professor it really wouldn't be that bad. Memorizing all sorts of details about microscopes without being able to use them (no lab) was a bit stupid though imo.

Microbio was fascinating, I didn't mind learning minor differences between microbes because the subject interested me so much, so I'd say it's not so bad. If you don't think it's interesting it may be diff.

Edit: Genetics and cell bio didn't have labs at my school. In my experience labs in upper div bio are either really necessary because they help you really understand the material or they make an overwhelming difficult subject even more cumbersome with the added workload.

 

[chillaxbro]

Cell Bio was harder for me

Dunno why people are saying genetics was all memorization. I loved genetics because it was like 75% problem solving. It differs from school to school I guess.

Microbio is a joke lel

 

[Espadaleader]

Microbio was all memorization. Genetics was problem-based. In my school all of my questions were experimental.

 

[IncognitoGuy]

Micro was easy. Cell Bio was slightly more difficult due to it being more detail-oriented, and Genetics was by and large a pain in the butt because of the level of detail and reasoning that was demanded of you.

 

[medicalmnt]

Cell Bio - took it in the spring of my freshman year. worst decision ever. ended up with a C; failed my lab final which was 25% of lecture grade. pure memorization. could have done better but I really shot myself taking it thinking it would be comparable to AP Bio in HS.

Genetics - 88% first exam 81% second exam. hate how class is structured with random problems from 5chapters per exam. random stuff you need to memorize from 5chapters. much easier than cell bio imo, mainly because I know how to study now(kind of) and its more problem solving based with some regular bio memorization.

micro - taking it next fall. from what i heard its the easiest out of the three big bio required classes.

biostat- easy 4.0. take it

 

[Mr Roboto]

Micro is easy peasy. Genetics was an A if you put in the time. Cell bio I didn't take but I've heard it requires a lot of work.

Hi guys, it's been about 1.5 years since I took a biology class, and that was Gen Bio which I did okay in (B). I need all three of these classes for my minor, and I was just wondering if I should take any of these with my current schedule. I've already registered for Orgo w/o lab & Physics w/lab and was wondering if it would be dumb of me to add one of those three.

From what I've read on here and on rate my professor, Cell Bio and Genetics are memorization classes, which I'm pretty sure is the reality with most biology classes. I remember all the memorizing I had to do in gen bio, I'm sure upper-level bios are even crazier.

I've recently transferred schools, but a senior at my old school told me that most people put off taking the genetics lab for as long as possible because it's very difficult and require you to check back on your lab throughout the entire week. I'm not sure if that's the case at my current school, however.

So, should I just wait to take one of these or is it manageable with organic & physics?

(Also, I'm only taking the first part of Orgo & Physics so after next semester those slots could go to two more science classes, if need be.)

 

[Frostbite22]

Cell bio hands down. Micro was easy because it was memorization and just coming to lecture I remembered a lot of things. Genetics was easy for me because we had a quiz every class to two classes so it was like I had to constantly study for the class. Cell bio I had to put in a ton of work for it.

 

[BamaNicole]

Cell bio was the hardest for me. I did okay in genetics and we didn't have microbio

 

[Paul Darlington]

B- in Genetics, B in Cell biology and Micro pending.
So far, micro is the easiest, in fact i never expected it to be this easy.

 

[IL Pre Med]

All three are a joke. But then again, I'm saying that after my second go around in undergrad. Didn't do too hot the first time in my younger days. If you study hard for each of the aforementioned classed, none should trouble you.

 

[FlatFour]

I'm surprised people are saying micro is easier than genetics. I suppose it depends on the professor, since I thought genetics was a breeze while not a single person has gotten a perfect exam score in my micro class.

 

[Tapoona]

Totally depends on the professor. I thought genetics was the worst course of my undergrad career. I had to retake it because of the poor grade. It was a 2020 level course at my school and, in my opinion, was taught at a grad school level. That professor doesn't teach undergrads anymore. Coincidence? The second go-around was much better with a different professor.

 

[Mavs88]

Talk to other students at your course...get a feel for specific professors. Makes a world of difference.

 

[TspCapacity]

Genetics. It was absolutely awful. I took the honors bio track at my university and did okay in that, but learned a lot so I think that I did pretty well overall. I'm a microbiology major, so it's my jam.

 

[Uafl112]

Only one I had to take for my major was Cell Bio. Such a joke at my school (USF). Me and my friends didnt study for one of the exams until a couple of hours before the exam.....We all walked out with A's

 

[Redpancreas]

Hi guys, it's been about 1.5 years since I took a biology class, and that was Gen Bio which I did okay in (B). I need all three of these classes for my minor, and I was just wondering if I should take any of these with my current schedule. I've already registered for Orgo w/o lab & Physics w/lab and was wondering if it would be dumb of me to add one of those three.

From what I've read on here and on rate my professor, Cell Bio and Genetics are memorization classes, which I'm pretty sure is the reality with most biology classes. I remember all the memorizing I had to do in gen bio, I'm sure upper-level bios are even crazier.

I've recently transferred schools, but a senior at my old school told me that most people put off taking the genetics lab for as long as possible because it's very difficult and require you to check back on your lab throughout the entire week. I'm not sure if that's the case at my current school, however.

So, should I just wait to take one of these or is it manageable with organic & physics?

(Also, I'm only taking the first part of Orgo & Physics so after next semester those slots could go to two more science classes, if need be.)

Asking these kinds of questions on sdn is useless. School courses are variable.

 

[MedTerp]

I haven't taken Micro but I found Cell Bio much more challenging than genetics. As some others have mentioned, the difficulty of a class depends on the professor, the other things you are doing while taking the class, and whether your way of learning matches the style of the course. My Cell Bio class was all about problem solving and was heavily literature driven as opposed to my memorization-galore Genetics class so thats why I found it harder to study for (also having ~500 ppt slides for each exam to study from wasn't easy).

 

[Aerus]

At my school, Microbiology is arguably the most difficult biology class. Course is taught by a professor who graduated from MIT and Caltech. You become a master at critical thinking and reading research journals becomes incredibly easy.

There is no memorization in the course, since all exams are open book/open notes. And even then....LOL

 

[TheBatman]

I'm taking cell Bio in the fall why are there so many horror stories about that class? Isn't it all memorization? I did very well in intro Bio. Should I be worried? lol

 

[Optimus-Prime]

Cell bio was hard, genetics depend on the flavor. Genetic analysis is cake, molecular genetics gets tricky; micro tends to be easy depending on the depth of immunology you are responsible for

 

[Optimus-Prime]

I'm taking cell Bio in the fall why are there so many horror stories about that class? Isn't it all memorization? I did very well in intro Bio. Should I be worried? lol

Depends on the teacher, at least thats how it was at my school

 

[mke520]

100% depends on the professor teaching it. from my point of view, if you have a solid understand of cell biology then everything else in biology makes sense. i took cell biology, microbiology, and a year of genetics. i received A's in all of my classes and thought cell biology was the best course i've ever taken. microbiology sucks, just a lot of memorization and gross diseases. the only part about microbiology i liked was the immunology aspect but microbiology is probably the easiest to conceptually understand what's going on. genetics can be super confusing if you have a bad professor, like i did, but i'd say take cell biology. i took molecular biology, biochemistry, and a semester of genetics before taking cell biology so i was well prepared for the level of difficulty of cell. if all you have is bio 1 and 2 then i'd say take microbiology because cell might be over your head then. but again it depends on your professor.

 

[mke520]

I'm taking cell Bio in the fall why are there so many horror stories about that class? Isn't it all memorization? I did very well in intro Bio. Should I be worried? lol

at my school you can't even take cell biology without taking at least a semester of molecular biology before hand and it is strongly recommended to take a semester of genetics and biochemistry as well. if all you have is bio 1 and 2 then i'd be worried about going into cell without a better biology foundation. it depends on your prof of course and the level of difficulty the course is taught at.